Following on from my blog recently about the tile in Birmingham Snow Hill Station to an unknown cat, I received a lovely email from the Press Office of London Midland, the railway company that manages the station.
“I believe the old Snow Hill station (before closure in the 1960s) had a real station cat (like many railway stations) to help keep mice at bay!! When the station re-opened in the 1980s, a tile was installed in memory of the former role of the station cat. I understand the staff at the station were keen to see it retained and this was supported by the station manager – hence the tile will be staying after the refit.”
I subsequently asked the obvious question “Did the cat have a name?” but the Press Office didn’t know. So any Midlands readers out there – do you know anyone who worked at Snow Hill station in the 1960s who might know? The Press Office suggested tongue in cheek that “Snowy” might be a good posthumous name.
There is a Wikipedia entry for anyone interested in the history of the station.
So – on to my musings. How unusual is it for there to be memorials to animals? I know the rest of the world thinks Brits are hyper-sentimental about animals, but even here in the UK I can think of few public (civic) memorials to animals. So would anyone like to contribute about memorials to animals they’ve mapped? I’m expecting a few about famous racehorses; famous warhorses and heroic actions by rescue dogs, but I’m prepared to be surpised.
Dave
How about a memorial to a dead snail that someone found in their drink:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donoghue_v_Stevenson#Commemoration
Circeus
As far a memorials go, I like the War Pigeon memorial in Beach House Park, Brighton.
Brian Prangle
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I’m not sure if you were actually trying to kick off a cat-mapping drive but two cats spring to mind here in London. One is a bronze statue of Dr. Johnson’s cat, located in Gough Square off Fleet St and the other is a bronze statue of a cat jumping off a wall in Camden Sq, commemorating a cat who belonged to a resident of the square. I’m sure there are others.
Matthijs
You know there is a memorial for a dog (owned by one of the constructors) on Victoria Square?
In Hyde Park, there is a Animals in War Memorial: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_in_War_Memorial
In Wroclaw, there is a memorial for all farm animals: http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g274812-i17765795-Wroclaw_Lower_Silesia_Province_Southern_Poland.html
malenki
Probably the most well known memorial for a pet you find in Japan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachikō#Bronze_statues
nadar
Thanks to your blog posts I’ve added the Station Cat memorial to the Wikipedia.¹ I hope I got your name (in the sources) right.
Maybe you could donate an image of the memorial less blurred to Wikimedia and – since you now know more about it – give it a better description, too?
btw: These two blog posts of yours I’ve had kept as open tabs in the browser since you published them. Don’t nobody scold me no more for having too much useless tabs open. 🙂
¹https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Birmingham_Snow_Hill_station&action=historysubmit&diff=639448124&oldid=637327693